A youth-led environment and climate change advocacy group, the Green African Youth Organisation (GAYO), has held a two-day summit and training for young people in waste management and environmental sustainability. 

The summit, which was held at the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), University of Ghana in Accra, brought together over 100 young people with business or business ideas in waste management across the country.

The summit organised, in collaboration with the Clean Air Fund and the Global Methane Hub, aims to empower young ecopreneurs with the knowledge, skills and tools needed to formalise, grow and sustain their green businesses while driving environmental and social impact in the country.

It will also provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of business management, financial planning and strategic decision-making and foster a strong network of young green entrepreneurs for future collaboration and impact.

The summit is a follow-up on the success of the Developing Youth Ecopreneurs Conference, which trained 30 cohorts, hosted 500 delegates, and led to the pilot of four small-scale enterprises. It will provide ecopreneurs with targeted training designed to build on their existing efforts and support those transitioning into eco-driven entrepreneurship. 

Unemployment and Waste Management

The Project Manager of the Zero Waste Cities Project at GAYO, Jacob Johnson Attakpah, said the initiative aimed at addressing two of Africa's pressing issues; thus, “unemployment and waste management”.

He indicated that GAYO recognised the growing problem of waste in Africa, particularly in urban areas such as Accra, while at the same time, the continent faced high levels of unemployment, especially among young people.

He argued that by combining these two issues, solutions could be created to tackle both problems simultaneously.

Mr Attakpah affirmed that as part of the project, participants would develop business ideas that utilised waste materials, such as organics, plastics, electronics and textiles to not only create jobs but also promote environmental sustainability and climate justice.

Opportunities, Waste segregation

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Country Director of the Clean Air Fund, Desmond Appiah, said the country had a lot of potential in the waste sector, which could be exploited by the youth as job creation avenues.

“We have a lot of capacity to address some of the challenges, especially relating to waste and other pollution sources.

If you look at the waste structure of our cities, there are plastics and over 55 per cent of organic waste.

“The organics alone offer a lot of opportunities for the development of composting, for the development of energy, and there are examples of things that people have done.

There are other organisations that have turned these so-called wastes into resources,” he said.

He called for a study to assess how the technologies used were faring in other jurisdictions and contextualised them into what could work in the country in addressing waste.

Mr Appiah also advocated legislation on waste segregation to ensure proper disposal of waste. 

“We need to be able to be engaging for segregation of waste at source, and I'm hoping that very soon it becomes a law, or it becomes mandatory, that the local assemblies would request or require residents to segregate their waste,” he said.